This time, waiting was more than half the fun. Breath
of Fire 3 is here at
last. It's been a long time coming, all right, but the first time you
land
hands on this game, the delays will all fly out the window. From the
very
beginning and its amazing sense of discovery and exploration to the epic
conclusion many hours later, few other games will draw you in like this
one
does. You see, BOF3 has something that's often forgotten it RPGs these
days
-- it doesn't have FMV; it doesn't have a lot of media hype; it doesn't
have a
main character with a sword bigger than he is. No, what Breath of Fire 3
has
is something long forgotten by most RPGs. Fun.

Like its SNES predecessors, BOF3 is packed with
gameplay, but even moreso this
time. There's just a ridiculous amount of stuff to do, ranging from
cooking
contests and a fishing game that is good enough to be a stand-alone
product to
building an entire city and playing a worldwide hide-and-seek game.
You'll
constantly be doing something new, learning some new ability, playing a
new
game, discovering a new play mechanic, creating a new dragon form (the
main
character, Ryu, can turn into various kinds of dragons by splicing any 3
of 18
different Genes together), getting a new item, meeting a new character...
there's so much to do and find that you'll frequently be taking time out
from
the actual storyline to explore for new stuff just because you want to.
The
more standard RPG elements of game are also well designed, featuring many
innovative ideas, like a cool skill system, weapons and armor that
actually
have weight (the stronger the gear you equip, the slower you are, so it's
a
tradeoff), and a maximum HP loss system that prevents you from using
constantly reviving your characters like you can in other games. It's
fairly
challenging as well, and requires that you utilize all the abilities and
tactics available to you in order to beat the tough bosses. It's never
frusteratingly tough, just challenging, which is exactly what it should
be.

Although the focus of BOF3 is on gameplay, the
storyline is excellent as well.
Rather than chuck plot at you from the outset, BOF3 starts off calm and
gradually builds up to the conclusion. It's not Wild Arms or FF7, but it
doesn't try to be -- it's something entirely different, and although it's
hard
to explain, it's really cool. There are plenty of plot twists, though,
and
some cool villains (Balio and Sunder!). The characters are great as
well;
they all have distinct personalities and catchphrases (like Rei's
"Doesn't
this just beat all?" and the unforgettable dolphin scene), and some towns
even
have their own dialect. Capcom did an incredibly good job on this
translation
-- everything is spelled right, translated right, and well-written. They
even
got Yggdrasil right! Overall, this is one of the best RPG translations
ever,
and Capcom deserves commendation for doing the right thing and delaying
the
game to get it right.

When you first start BOF3, you'll be impressed by
its hand-drawn backgrounds.
You'll be even more impressed when you discover that they're actually
polygons
so well done they look hand-drawn, and that you can actually move the
camera
(a cool feature needed to find many cleverly-hidden items). The
characters
look good, but not great, although they are well animated. However,
despite
having a polygonal background and being scaled back and forth, they never
get
pixelled. I don't know how Capcom did it, but it's true. There is
absolutely
no pixellation in the game. As for the fights, one feature in particular
stands out: instead of jumping to a separate fight screen, the enemies
just
come in right on the main field screen and you fight right there. Not
only
does this help you remember which way you were going before a fight, it's
just
plain cool. The special effects are also above-average (but not
spectacular),
and the fights in general are very good-looking.

In the aural department, BOF3 once again goes against
the tide of RPG
tradition, and succeeds greatly. It eschews big symphonic scores for
cool,
jazzy, tunes that fit the game very well. There's a lot of great music
in
here -- the soundtrack for this game would be well worth buying, but it
unfortunately doesn't include all the game's music. A big thanks must be
given
to Capcom for retaining the really cool Japanese song ("Pure Again") in
the
credits.

Of course, no game is perfect, and Breath of Fire 3
does have a few flaws.
Aside from slightly long load times and an annoying shop interface (you
can't
buy equipment for the characters not in your current party), the main one
is
its lack of replay value -- there aren't that many secrets, so once you
beat
the game, you probably won't play it much more (although there are two
optional bosses similar to the Weapons in FF7). While it lasts, though,
this
is one heck of a game, and comes highly recommended. Easily one of the
best
RPGs in years.